The agricultural chemical formulator has the difficult task of creating a product that balances bioefficacy, toxicity, cost, shelf life and user friendliness. Of particular importance to the activity of an agricultural formulation is the ability of an aqueous solution to spread evenly over a surface, the so-called wetting ability, and the effective uptake of the active ingredient by the plant to be treated. For example, in agricultural formulations, efficacy benefits from a good wetting of the plant surface and uptake of the active ingredient.
Adjuvants are added to agricultural formulations to improve activity, thereby reducing the amounts of active ingredients necessary, resulting in lower application cost. They generally take the form of surface-active or salt-like compounds and depending on their mode of action, they are classified as modifiers, activators, fertilizers and/or pH buffers.
Surfactants are generally regarded as modifiers and/or activators as they improve wetting properties and uptake of the active ingredients in the agricultural formulation. Additionally, some surfactants improve the solubility of active ingredients in formulations thereby eliminating serious issues such as product separation and/or crystallization.
Anionic, cationic, amphoteric and nonionic surfactants are all known and used in agricultural applications depending on the desired effect. For example, nonionic surfactants are known to be good wetting agents, and are often present in agricultural formulations. Many nonionic surfactants are not soluble enough in solutions with a high amount of electrolytes, such as alkali and/or alkaline complexing agents, salts, and the like and therefore need the presence of a hydrotrope to improve the solubility. A number of hydrotropes for nonionic surfactants have been described in various publications. Examples of such hydrotropes are ethanol, sodium xylene sulphonate, sodium cumene sulphonate, alkyl glycosides, and phosphated alkoxylated alcohols.
However, there is still a need for new efficient surfactants that can improve activity, act as effective hydrotropes, and are compatible for the achievement of stable formulations delivering optimal performance. The objective of the present invention is, therefore, to find a new hydrotrope that is efficient in formulating agricultural compositions, which compositions will remain homogeneous upon dilution, and where the performance of the compositions is good.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved agricultural adjuvant. It is also an object of the invention to provide a stable, agricultural formulation having improved activity. These and other objects are achieved by the adjuvants/formulations of the present invention.